For the last couple of decades, pretty much the only Batman that has been depicted on the silver screen has been some variant on Frank Miller’s interpretation. As such, viewers have been seeing a lot of the same recently. When Zack Snyder made Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, he was hoping to at least partially revitalize the public perception of Batman.
With Ben Affleck in the role, things were bound to change. In fact, not only did Bruce Wayne change from the comics, he was a fairly fresh take on the character. While most viewers consider the DCEU to be its own darker alternate universe separate from the comics, Snyder used some original interpretations with some fresh creations combined to create an all-new Batman unlike any other.
10 Bruce Wayne Is A Batman At The End Of His Career
In most iterations of the Justice League, most of the characters are of a similar age. Batman and Superman are typically close in age, or at least at similar points of their career spans.
However, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice introduced a Batman who was at the end of his career, while Superman was still at the beginning of his. They comment that Bruce has been doing his Batman activities for twenty years at this point, while Clark Kent is brand new on the scene.
9 Alfred (Rightfully) Criticizes Him Frequently
Most of the time, Alfred Pennyworth takes something of a back seat to Bruce Wayne and his antics as Batman. He helps to keep Batman balanced, taking care of Bruce and his home while he’s Bruce Wayne as well as assisting Bruce in keeping Batman maintained. He’s a vital character and an important presence in Bruce’s life.
However, despite the fact that he’s essentially Bruce’s adoptive father, he is still often portrayed as simply his butler. The Bruce and Alfred that Snyder introduced are more open with each other, with Alfred criticizing Bruce when he feels he needs to hear it— and rightfully so.
8 Batman Experienced A Traumatic Attack (& He Blames Superman)
After decades of fighting against evil alone as Batman, the sudden appearance of another apparent superhero was shocking to Bruce Wayne. Even more shocking was the way Superman entered his life. The battle between Superman and Zod in Man of Steel had terrible consequences, including destroying a Wayne Financial building— and earning the ire of Batman himself in the process.
This early introduction to Superman causes Bruce to see him in a negative and dangerous light, and he decides he’s going to stop Superman rather than work with him like they usually do in most iterations of the duo.
7 He Doesn’t Know Superman (Or Clark Kent)
This alternate universe made for the movies introduces a unique take on the characters that is not often seen. For once, rather than Superman and Batman being best friends and teammates, the two of them were at odds.
Not only were they fighting against one another, but they didn’t even know each other. If Bruce Wayne knew Clark Kent even a little bit, then his actions in Dawn of Justice would simply be unconscionable. Using versions of the characters that don’t know each other in the least makes Batman much different than he typically is.
6 Batman Already Lost A Robin — And It Was Dick Grayson
After seeing a younger Bruce Wayne living his life through director Christopher Nolan’s interpretation, fans were wondering if they might eventually see a Batman that has a Robin in the Snyderverse. As Batman is rarely without one of his Robins in the comics, it seemed like it was only a matter of time.
However, Zack Snyder changed things around a bit. Batman had a Robin, but he already lost him. In fact, he lost Robin to the Joker; in the comics, this happened to Jason Todd, the second Robin. But Snyder has made it clear that he meant the first Robin, Dick Grayson, was the one who died.
5 He Is More Of A Myth Than Anything
It appears that, in Dawn of Justice, Batman is more of a myth than anything to the people of Gotham. He’s not exactly real, and people have not been able to capture him in any concrete way before. Even the cops of Gotham mention that they’ve never seen him in person before, and Clark Kent keeps trying to pitch the topic of the Bat in Gotham to an unwilling Perry White.
If Batman isn’t even enough to garner a news story, he’s clearly not as huge a figure in Dawn of Justice as he typically is in other interpretations of the character.
4 Batman Is Fighting Outside Of Gotham
Normally, Batman tries to stick close to his home turf. Part of why Bruce became Batman in the first place was in order to start cleaning up, helping, and protecting his home city of Gotham that he loves so much. As a result, he rarely leaves Gotham City, and tries to do everything he can to stay focused on helping his home.
However, Dawn of Justice introduced Batman and immediately had him jumping over the harbor into Metropolis. With Batman and Superman fighting— and Lex Luthor their main adversary, in the end— it makes sense that Metropolis would be a primary setting, but Batman’s time in Gotham here is unmistakably minimal.
3 He Is (Almost) Completely Alone
As Bruce Wayne gets on in his years, he gets to know more and more people in his life, both as Bruce and as Batman. Under the cowl, Batman works with other heroes— not just Superman, but also heroes like Wonder Woman and the Huntress, as well as his own various versions of Robin that he collects over the years.
However, Snyder showed viewers an older Batman who has nobody fighting at his side. There is no Catwoman, not a single Robin, and the Justice League is only just starting to come together. A Bruce that is this alone is typically not "found" unless he is at the very beginning of his career— or at the very end of his life.
2 Batman Made It Towards The End Of His Career Without A Team
With Bruce’s concern for the world growing larger and larger upon the discovery of metahumans like Superman and Wonder Woman, it seems surprising that he never found out about these super people before. He learns about several metahumans in just a couple of years, after decades of operating by himself without seemingly ever interacting with someone who wasn’t simply human.
Bruce Wayne is usually a member of many metahuman and superhero teams, and yet Snyder’s Bruce has no team at all, fighting completely solo (with some occasional help from Alfred).
1 A Good Man Became Cruel
As Alfred pointed out to Bruce after learning how violent he had become as Batman, the absolute fear, anger, and powerlessness that Bruce feels seeing Superman is capable of turning good men cruel. After seeing the destruction the Kryptonians caused, Bruce only became more and more violent.
Snyder’s Batman has gone so far off the rails that he’s begun branding criminals with a bat in order to make them targets to be killed in prison. Snyder also makes it clear that this Bruce has strayed from his path and lost his moral compass, and he’s trying hard to course-correct. Bruce is struggling, but he’s also growing; he has demons, but he’s fighting them— a staple of the character in any iteration.